S Korea-Japanese prosecution Japan's prosecutors asked to appeal sentence for Korean woman killer

SEOUL (Yonhap) - The South Korean government has called on Japan's prosecutors to appeal against a court decision for a Japanese criminal who killed a South Korean woman, the foreign ministry officials said Sunday. A Japanese district court sentenced on May 27 Seiichi Inuma, 61 to nine years in jail for killing the 32-year-old-woman and cutting up her body, He was convicted of bodily injury resulting in death. Prosecutors alleged Inuma killed in June 2009 the women identified by her surname Kang, in a car at a parking lot where is located in Kanajawa, Ishikawa Prefecture and dismember her body. They asked the court for a sentence of 18 years. The Kanajawa District Court cited testimony by the doctor who carried out the autopsy saying it was doubtful whether the woman was strangled, as prosecutors maintained. The court also said there was no evidence that Inuma intended to murder her. However, prosecutors decided not to appeal the ruling, Japan's Kyodo News agency said on Thursday. "The government sent Friday to the Japanese prosecution an official document calling for rethinking appeal the court decision against the Japanese criminal," said an official at the ministry, adding that the move came as the bereaved family of the Korean woman has lodged an appeal against the ruling. The foreign ministry also said that it asked Tuesday the Ishikawa police to cooperate on the search of her severed head that will be a crucial evidence to prove whether she was strangled.